Crazy, busy day!! This morning started with me ALMOST sleeping the whole night. :) YAY! Then I showered and Shane and I went downstairs and ate some Strawberry Minis (the European cousin of Cinnamon Toast Crunch- it looks like cinnamon toast crunch but instead of cinnamon it has strawberry swirls, so it was interesting) and then I learned how to count to ten in Hungarian- I’ve been practicing all day! Shane’s family friend Zsolt (pronounced like jzolt) picked up Shane, Shane’s grandma, and me, and we drove halfway to Budapest, and then stopped for lunch at this really nice roadside restaurant, where Shane finally got the steak tartar he’s been wanting so badly, and I had a mozzarella stuffed chicken breast covered in bacon (it was sooo good- or ‘yo’ in Hungarian).
Along the 2-hour drive, I also learned a lot about gypsies. In Hungary, they have gypsies, which are usually Indian or Mexican people (so people with dark skin get stereotyped as gypsies and aren’t liked too much here). Apparently gypsies don’t work, and have lots of kids that they never send to school- so these uneducated poor people are kind-of infesting the country- but the worst part is that gypsies will distract you, and then steal things from you- so you have to be really aware of them. I also learned a bit about prostitutes-, which are legal in Hungary. They stand on the side of the road, and get picked up mostly by truck-drivers. But whereas in the U.S. they are pretty good at hiding it, Hungarian prostitutes just hang out wearing their mini skirts and bare-midriff shirts and heels. (Note to self: never buy a bare midriff shirt). We saw one of those on the way.
But as soon as we arrived in Budapest, we checked into our hotel- the GORGEOUS Marriott on the Danube River. It’s a 4-star resort and every room has an awesome view of the river- from our hotel we can see a castle and church and many of the places we saw today. After we checked in, Shane’s grandma decided to stay in the hotel room (because she’s seen everything in Budapest a thousand times) and Shane and I went touristing (verb: the act of being a taking a lot of pictures and being very annoying) with Zolte, and saw literally probably 10 of Budapest’s best sites to see. They were amazing!! I can’t even decide what was my favorite.
We walked around a ton of old castles and saw an absolutely gorgeous view from every place we went- everything in Budapest is on the Danube River or close to it. Turns out, like a lot of the cities in Hungary, Buda and Pest were two different cities, but were combined after World War II. Check Facebook for the awesome pictures!! Another thing I learned? I need to open a modeling agency for Hungarian girls. Most of them are just rural farm girls- but they are GORGEOUS. Just imagine a bunch of tall, healthy but thin, blonde or brown haired, tan; nicely dressed women and you have the streets of Budapest. Seriously, the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen. I can’t blame men here- even I stand there gawking at them occasionally. And strangely enough, everything in Hungary in very English-friendly; menus come in English and everyone learns English in school so most people can speak it. They even listen to our music from America. 3 of every 4 songs on the radio are from the U.S.A.
As of right now, Shane and I are just chillin in the room looking at the gorgeous views (and the MASSIVE spiders outside… GET AWAY FROM ME!) We then went out to dinner at this one street in Budapest where they have a lot of outdoor cafes all in a row with lights decorating all of them. I had this AMAZING angel hair pasta with some kind of cheesy sauce and bacon crumbles. It was so good! Shane had some tortellini filled with sausage and it was amazing too! I had some- it was covered in cheese :). Then we went back to the hotel and here we are!